Lundin Mining
Canadian copper consolidator sold European zinc mines for $1.4B to BHP-partnership on massive Chilean deposit, rebalancing portfolio toward electrification metals.
Vancouver-based Lundin demonstrates portfolio assembly through serial acquisition, building a 6,195-employee base metals producer from strategic mine purchases. The company's $4.1 billion 2024 revenue (record) comes from geographically dispersed assets: Candelaria and Caserones copper in Chile's Atacama, Chapada gold-silver-copper in Brazil's Goiás, Eagle nickel-copper in Michigan. This is bet-hedging through jurisdiction diversification—political risk in one country doesn't destroy the entire organism.
April 2025's $1.4 billion sale of Neves-Corvo (Portugal) and Zinkgruvan (Sweden) to Boliden demonstrates portfolio pruning as corporate autophagy. Lundin divested European zinc-copper assets to fund the July 2024 Josemaria-Filo del Sol joint venture with BHP—swapping mature European mines for 50% of one of the last decade's largest copper discoveries. The metabolic shift is clear: exit zinc, concentrate on copper.
Record 2024 production of 191,704 tonnes zinc and 158,436 oz gold came from assets subsequently sold or de-emphasized, while copper guidance increased for 2025 from 303,000-330,000 to 319,000-337,000 tonnes. Candelaria produced nearly 100,000 tonnes copper in H2 2024, Caserones delivered 124,761 tonnes—the portfolio's metabolic center is shifting toward energy transition metals as older assets get sold.
The BHP joint venture demonstrates coalition formation for capital-intensive projects beyond solo capacity. Filo del Sol's size required partnering with a $146 billion partner, creating shared investment risk on a deposit extending beyond 2050. Q3 2025's $1 billion revenue and $383 million operating cash flow show the company's resource allocation working: sell non-core, buy copper-growth, optimize remaining assets.